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Netcall among Wednesday’s strugglers as its by NHS purchasing delays

Last updated: 15:00 29 May 2019 BST, First published: 08:51 29 May 2019 BST

NHS waiting room

Netcall plc (LON:NET) saw its shares drop back 8.55%, to 51.9p, after a trading update revealed that purchasing delays within the NHS will mean that product revenue for the twelve months ended 30 June will be lower than previously expected.

Drug developer ValiRx Plc (LON:VAL) share lowered by 6.27%, to trade at 0.24p, on financial results day - with the pre-revenue firm reported a £4.8mln loss for 2018.

Elsewhere, Conroy Gold and Natural Resources Plc (LON:CGNR) shares fell just over 7%, to 5.62p, following the release of its latest drilling results from the Slieve Glah gold project in Ireland.

2:55pm: Xtract Resources shares rocket on hard rock mining collab

Xtract Resources PLC (LON:XTR) shares rocketed around 75% higher, to 1.23p, with the news of a collaboration agreement for hard rock deposits at the Manica project in Mozambique.

New partner Mutapa Mining and Processing is to finance and conduct the mining operations, including all capital and operating costs - while Xtract will receive 20% and 23% of operating cash flow after tax.

Shares in online shopping firm Koovs Plc (LON:KOOV) gained 21.54%, to trade at 7.48p, after confirming a £3.66mln funding which saw a tranche of shares issued at a price of 15p per share to Future Lifestyle Fashions. It is part of a larger series of funding for the company.

Ilika Plc (LON:IKA), up 16.6% at 35p, as the battery tech firm told investors that it has developed new methods that allow ‘rapid customisation’ of the company’s Stereax product to match customer requirements.

11:25am: Rainbow Rare Earths shares soar as traders flock to ‘non-China’ opportunity

AIM-quoted Rainbow Rare Earths Ltd (LON:RBW) was in the spotlight, rising 14% to 3.85p, as punters flooded into a non-China rare earth stock as the People’s Republic threaten to choke off supplies as part of its escalating dispute with Donald Trump’s United States.

China controls the vast majority of rare earth mineral deposits – it is responsible for over 70% of all global supply - and if it withholds the strategic resources there would be a dramatic impact on the prices for the remaining minority of sources.

Elsewhere, amid a broader blue-chip sell off, supermarket stocks particularly felt the pinch as the latest industry data from Kantar confirmed that discounters Aldi and Lidl continued to take market share from the so-called Big Four. Aldi’s market share rose by 0.7 ppts to 8.0% and Lidl’s increased 0.4 ppts to 5.8%.

“The discounters continue to attract customers with nearly one million more households visiting Aldi compared with last year and an additional 630,000 shopping at Lidl,” said Hayward.

“Around 75% of growth at both supermarkets is coming from the ambient and chilled aisles as people opt for value in a greater proportion of their basket.”

Tesco PLC (LON:TSCO), down 2.9% at 231.3p, remained the number one supermarket, keeping a market share of 27.3%.

Meanwhile J Sainsbury PLC (LON:SBRY), down 0.1% at 198.5p, and Asda have become the joint second biggest UK supermarkets since their plans to merge collapsed.

Wm.Morrison Supermarkets PLC (LON:MRW), down 1% at 197.9p, was in fourth place with a market share of 10.5% in the period, down 0.1 ppts on last year.

8:50am: Spectra Systems advances in early trade as investors look forward to expectation beating profit

Spectra Systems Corporation (LON:SPSY) shares started Wednesday on the front foot, gaining 2.8% to 128p as the developer of banknote authentication technologies told investors that its profits for 2018 will exceed market expectations.

It said that the stronger performance was the result of central bank sensor-related research funding and a strong first half of the year for optical materials sales.

"We are very pleased that we are able to provide a positive trading update for 2019 which is reflective of an increasing product mix which allows for sustained strong profitability,” said Spectra's chief executive Dr Nabil Lawandy.

WATCH: Investor Update: Rosslyn Data Technologies grows revenues and generates cash

Elsewhere, shares in XL Media PLC (LON:XLM) were 2% higher at 52p as a pre-AGM statement boasted of a “highly cash generative business with a strong cash balance” and, amid a perceived share price weakness, the company has decided to extend its share buy-back programme.

Stobart Group Ltd (LON:STOB) shares, meanwhile, advanced around 10% higher to 129.88p, after the company told investors it was confident about the outlook for the new year as it ramps up investment in expanding London Southend Airport after de-risking the balance sheet through disposals.

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Stobart Group Ltd (LON:STOB) said it was confident about the outlook for the new year as it ramps up investment in expanding its London Southend Airport after de-risking the balance sheet through disposals.

IQ-AI Limited (LON:IQAI) said its chairman, Trevor Brown has subscribed for £250,000 in nominal amount of 6% unsecured convertible loan notes 2025 (CLNs), convertible into 16,666,666 ordinary shares at a price of 1.5p each. The group said funds raised as a result of the issue of the CLNs will be used to provide additional working capital for product development. It noted that Brown is directly and indirectly (through Free Association Books, a company in which he is interested) interested in 36,083,025 ordinary shares in the company, equivalent to 29.98% of the issued ordinary share capital.

Alba Mineral Resources plc (LON:ALBA) has revealed details of the latest batch of results from the Clogau gold project in Wales. Results from 243 samples, among 1,200 samples taken in a recent programme, include gold-in-sample grades from two new anomaly areas which are located away from and separate to the historic mining area.

Bluejay Mining PLC (LON:JAY) has revealed an upgrade to the resources at the Dundas ilmenite project, in Greenland. The project’s total mineral resource increases by 15% to 117mln tonnes, at 6.1% ilmenite in-situ. Big Pic in January.

Aquaculture and genetics group Benchmark Holdings PLC (LON:BMK) is to take full control of its Chile-based salmon breeding joint venture. Partner AquaChile was acquired by Agrosuper in January and talks have now started over the dissolution of the JV.

Rosslyn Data Technologies PLC (LON:RDT) cut its operating losses by 75% in its last financial year while also turning cash generative.

Strategic Minerals PLC (LON:SML) has signed a Deed of Variation with New Age Exploration Limited (NAE) to defer the initial payment date for the acquisition of NAE's 50% shareholding in Cornwall Resources Limited (CRL) from 30 May 2019 to 27 June 2019.  The AIM-listed producing mineral company said the deferral is to allow for the expected receipt of the funds from Cobre's major client.

Premier African Minerals PLC (LON:PREM) has started talks with other parties about the development of the RHA tungsten mine. The junior has agreed to a direct approach from a potential alternative buyer of wolframite, while two Development Finance Institutions are to conduct due diligence.

ValiRx Plc (LON:VAL) said the dose ranging study of its lead drug continued as it outlined potential next steps. In an update alongside its full-year results, ValiRx also said it would either out-licence VAL201 to a major pharmaceutical company or proceed to a phase llb study once dose-ranging is complete. Big Pic in May.

Itaconix Plc (LON:ITX) has made £242,000 from the sale of its 22.49% stake in Danish nicotine gum maker Alkalon. Big Pic in May.

Afarak Group PLC (LON:AFRK) has told investors it will issue new equity as part of transactions to increase its ownership stake in a number of South African mining assets. In total, the company will be issuing 2.12mln new shares. They can be issued within existing shareholder authorisations and the agreements are not expected to have any major impact on Afarak or its business.

Avation PLC (LON:AVAP) has revealed that Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank acted as sole arranger, facility agent and security trustee for the commercial financing of the new ATR 72-600 turboprop aircraft the firm delivered to Cebu Air, Inc. at the manufacturer's facility in Toulouse, France, as announced on May 24. Avation's executive chairman, Jeff Chatfield said: "We were pleased to enjoy commercial finance for our 46th aircraft."

W Resources PLC (LON:WRES), the tungsten, tin and gold mining company with assets in Spain and Portugal, is has announced the appointment of Alternative Resource Capital/Shard Capital as its joint broker alongside Turner Pope Investments with immediate effect.

MaxCyte (LON:MXCT) (LON:MXCS), the global cell-based medicines and life sciences company, said it will host a Capital Markets Day for analysts and institutional investors on Thursday 11 July, from 15.00-17.30 BST in London. The group said discussion topics will include MaxCyte's partner programmes and in-house oncology pipeline, and trends in the cell therapy industry, and demonstrations will also be given of the company's new products.

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